The British Journal of Sports Medicine retracted an editorial late last week by Paul McCrory, a former editor of the journal. The publisher has joined the never-ending plagiarism euphemism parade. The retraction notice, which the journal embargoed until today despite having watermarked the editorial’s PDF “retracted” sometime Thursday or Friday, reads: “This article has been … Continue reading ‘This is frankly insulting’: An author plagiarized by a journal editor speaks
As readers of this blog know, we’re fond of highlighting euphemisms, particularly for plagiarism: “inadvertently copied text,” “a significant originality issue” and and “inclusion of significant passages of unattributed material from other authors” come to mind. But here’s a euphemism for “bullshit” that’s new to us.
A philosopher with a double-digit retraction count did not commit plagiarism, according to a report released this weekend by France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), where the researcher is employed. Magali Roques has had 11 papers retracted from seven different journals, most of which referred to plagiarism in their notices. But as Daily … Continue reading ‘A fig leaf that doesn’t quite cover up’: Commission says philosopher engaged in ‘unacknowledged borrowings’ but not plagiarism
A group of anesthesiology researchers in China have lost their 2020 paper on nerve blocks during lung surgery after finding that the work contained “too many” errors to stand. But after hearing from the top editor of the journal, it’s pretty clear “too many errors” was a euphemism for even worse problems. The article, “Opioid-sparing … Continue reading “We didn’t want to hurt them. We are polite”: When a retraction notice pulls punches
For more than a decade, I have been working with colleagues to request retractions from editors and publishers for plagiarizing articles, mostly in my discipline of philosophy and related fields. But almost two years ago I requested a retraction from a seismology journal. Since I have no training in the science of earthquakes, how did … Continue reading A two-year drama: The anatomy of a retraction request
A professor of political science at the University of Porto in Portugal has had at least five papers retracted for plagiarism. Or, as one journal put it, Teresa Cierco “carelessly uses parts of diverse sources.” Cierco’s areas of research include Kosovo, Macedonia, and Timor-Leste. The retractions, for papers published in 2013 and 2014, began in … Continue reading Political science prof up to five retractions after she “carelessly uses parts of diverse sources”
A pathologist in Chicago has lost five papers for image manipulation and other problems. The first retraction for Yashpal Kanwar, of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, appeared in 2013, for a review article published earlier that year in the American Journal of Physiology Renal Physiology. According to the notice:
The American Journal of Public Health has retracted a controversial 2018 paper on the effects of economic austerity in Spain because it contained “inaccurate and misleading” results linking those policies to a massive spike in premature deaths. The journal also has published a second piece, by a different group of authors, refuting the central claim … Continue reading Public health journal retracts paper on austerity for “inaccurate and misleading results”
We’ve seen partial retractions, and retract-and-replacements, but here’s a first (cue timpanis): The Total Retraction. A Brazilian journal has pulled a 2018 paper on food security for plagiarism — at least, that’s what really happened; the stated reasons are a bit sauced up. According to the notice:
Reason Description Author Unresponsive Author(s) lack of communication after prior contact by Journal, Publisher or other original Authors Bias Issues or Lack of Balance Failure to maintain objectivity in the presentation or analysis of information Breach of Policy by Author A violation of the Journal, Publisher or Institutional accepted practices by the author Breach of … Continue reading Retraction Watch Database User Guide Appendix B: Reasons